Lamentations 4–5

4Look at how the gold has lost its brightness!

See how dull the fine gold has become!

The sacred jewels are scattered

at every street corner.

²The priceless children of Zion

were worth their weight in gold.

But now they are thought of as clay pots

made by the hands of a potter.

³Even wild dogs

nurse their young pups.

But my people are as mean

as ostriches in the desert.

⁴When our babies get thirsty,

their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.

When our children beg for bread,

no one gives them any.

⁵Those who once ate fine food

are dying in the streets.

Those who wore fancy clothes

are now lying on piles of trash.

⁶My people have been punished

more than Sodom was.

It was destroyed in a moment.

No one offered it a helping hand.

⁷Jerusalem’s princes were brighter than snow.

They were whiter than milk.

Their bodies were redder than rubies.

They looked like sapphires.

⁸But now they are blacker than coal.

No one even recognizes them in the streets.

Their skin is wrinkled on their bones.

It has become as dry as a stick.

⁹Those who have been killed with swords are better off

than those who have to die of hunger.

Those who are hungry waste away to nothing.

They don’t have any food from the fields.

¹⁰With their own hands, loving mothers

have had to cook even their own children.

They ate their children

when my people were destroyed.

¹¹The Lord has become very angry.

He has poured out his burning anger.

He started a fire in Zion.

It burned up the very foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth couldn’t believe what was happening.

Neither could any of the world’s people.

Enemies actually attacked and entered

the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³It happened because Jerusalem’s prophets had sinned.

Its priests had done evil things.

All of them spilled the blood

of those who did what was right.

¹⁴Now those prophets and priests

have to feel their way along the streets

like people who are blind.

The blood of those they killed has made them “unclean.”

So no one dares even to touch their clothes.

¹⁵“Go away! You are ‘unclean’!”

people cry out to them.

“Go away! Get out of here!

Don’t touch us!”

So they run away and wander around.

Then people among the nations say,

“They can’t stay here anymore.”

¹⁶The Lord himself has scattered them.

He doesn’t watch over them anymore.

No one shows the priests any respect.

No one honors the elders.

¹⁷And that’s not all. Our eyes grew tired.

We looked for help that never came.

We watched from our towers.

We kept looking for a nation that couldn’t save us.

¹⁸People hunted us down no matter where we went.

We couldn’t even walk in our streets.

Our end was near. We only had a few days to live.

Our end had come.

¹⁹Those who were hunting us down were faster

than eagles in the sky.

They chased us over the mountains.

They hid and waited for us in the desert.

²⁰Zedekiah, the Lord’s anointed king, was our last hope.

But he was caught in their traps.

We thought he would keep us safe.

We expected to continue living among the nations.

²¹People of Edom, be joyful.

You who live in the land of Uz, be glad.

But the cup of the Lord’s anger will also be passed to you.

Then you will become drunk.

Your clothes will be stripped off.

²²People of Zion, the time for you to be punished

will come to an end.

The Lord won’t keep you away from your land any longer.

But he will punish your sin, people of Edom.

He will show you the evil things you have done.

5Lord, think about what has happened to us.

Look at the shame our enemies have brought on us.

²The land you gave us has been turned over to outsiders.

Our homes have been given to strangers.

³Our fathers have been killed.

Our mothers don’t have husbands.

⁴We have to buy the water we drink.

We have to pay for the wood we use.

⁵Those who chase us are right behind us.

We’re tired. We can’t get any rest.

⁶We put ourselves under the control of Egypt and Assyria

just to get enough bread.

⁷Our people before us sinned.

And they are now dead.

We are being punished because of their sins.

⁸Slaves rule over us.

No one can set us free

from their powerful hands.

⁹We put our lives in danger just to get some bread to eat.

Robbers in the desert might kill us with their swords.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven.

We are so hungry we’re burning up with fever.

¹¹Our women have been raped in Zion.

Our virgins have been raped in the towns of Judah.

¹²Our princes have been hung up by their hands.

No one shows our elders any respect.

¹³Our young men are forced to grind grain at the mill.

Our boys almost fall down

as they carry heavy loads of wood.

¹⁴Our elders don’t go to the city gate anymore.

Our young men have stopped playing their music.

¹⁵There isn’t any joy in our hearts.

Our dancing has turned into sobbing.

¹⁶All of our honor is gone.

How terrible it is for us! We have sinned.

¹⁷So our hearts are weak.

Our eyes can’t see very clearly.

¹⁸Mount Zion has been deserted.

Wild dogs are prowling all around on it.

¹⁹Lord, you rule forever.

Your throne will last for all time to come.

²⁰Why do you always forget us?

Why have you deserted us for so long?

²¹Lord, please bring us back to you.

Then we can return.

Make our lives like new again.

²²Or have you completely turned away from us?

Are you really that angry with us?